Farther Finance Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) by 358.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,900 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,268 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $449,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WSM. Quent Capital LLC raised its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 19.7% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 358 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $114,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the 1st quarter worth $1,334,000. ORG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the 1st quarter worth $45,000. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 58.3% during the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 13,299 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $4,223,000 after acquiring an additional 4,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 144.5% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 4,370 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,388,000 after acquiring an additional 2,583 shares in the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Williams-Sonoma Trading Down 4.0 %

WSM stock opened at $129.47 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $16.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.76. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 52 week low of $71.92 and a 52 week high of $174.26. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $141.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $145.06.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.81 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a net margin of 14.29% and a return on equity of 51.57%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.56 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams-Sonoma Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. Williams-Sonoma’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WSM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $158.00 to $145.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Williams-Sonoma from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $148.00 to $156.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Williams-Sonoma in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams-Sonoma has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $139.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams-Sonoma

In other Williams-Sonoma news, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 11,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.66, for a total value of $1,494,726.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,040,099. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Williams-Sonoma news, EVP Karalyn Smith sold 11,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.66, for a total value of $1,494,726.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,040,099. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laura Alber sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.27, for a total transaction of $5,810,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,030,956 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $149,766,978.12. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

About Williams-Sonoma

Williams-Sonoma, Inc operates as an omni-channel specialty retailer of various products for home. It offers cooking, dining, and entertaining products, such as cookware, tools, electrics, cutlery, tabletop and bar, outdoor, furniture, and a library of cookbooks under the Williams Sonoma Home brand, as well as home furnishings and decorative accessories under the Williams Sonoma lifestyle brand; and furniture, bedding, lighting, rugs, table essentials, and decorative accessories under the Pottery Barn brand.